‘Fidel’ – Judith Rossell – the bid is at $300

Judith has produced books for a range of ages, from toddlers with the tactile pages of ‘Play with Your Plate’ to the page-turners of the ‘Stella Montgomery’ series.

She has held several disparate posts, ranging from hardware assistant to CSRO research scientist, eventually graduating to children’s illustrator. Although scientist and children’s story-teller may seem about as different as it gets, Judith observes that an artist and a research scientist both have to approach their work with the same creatively receptive mind.

Judith grew up in an outer suburb of Melbourne as part of a family of four children.

‘I liked the birds. There were trees all around our house, with lots of birds and possums.’ 

Growing up she loved to draw and read, always escaping into strange and dangerous lands one way or another. Her main advice for young readers is simply to read lots and widely. She works away at her own ideas at a steady pace, saying that to be a good artist or writer one must begin with writing or drawing anything at all and then simply stick to it.

For Judith, perseverance trumps perfection every time.

Judith now she lives in a more central suburb and enjoys the hustle and bustle: ‘I like living in a part of the city with people from different countries. I like that I can hear lots of different languages when I’m down the street.’

There, she works under the supervision of her soft, and sweetly stubborn green-eyed cat, Myn, writing, illustrating and crafting miniature houses, some of which fit neatly in the palm of a hand.

Judith is able to imbue her little houses with an alluring sense of history, through the realistic textures and a careful choice of materials. Each creation appears as if it had been standing in a little town for years. This ability is carried through to the rest of her work, which has a lived-in feel, achieved through humour and detail.

Asked about Fidel, featured on her kite, Judith said he is now a little ghost cat, probably still keeping an eye on her from the Otherlands. ‘He was the best cat ever,’ she said.

Like all of the artists in the Hope Flies project, Judith is generous and during Covid, Judith offered a series of Art Challenges. Try one using the link below.

https://www.facebook.com/jude.rossell/videos/10221397109418222/UzpfSTUwMTA2Mzk0OTkzMDAwNzoyNzc2NDEwOTQ1NzI4NjE4/

Here is a wonderfully representative bit of text from her newest book ‘Midwatch’: ‘Many years ago I managed to escape an alligator in the palace of the Sultana of Rum by climbing atop a statue, and was then able to distract the creature by pelting it with devilled crab sandwiches.’

Judith leaves the reader wanting more of each character, fleshing them out by little references to a grander backstory. Specifics such as: Maggie was found in a mackerel box or the seagulls fighting over a heron bone nearby, gives a story substance and depth.

Though Judith isn’t too big on planning out her story arcs, she loves history and has enjoyed arming herself with plenty of solid ideas and images through research. Her books often combine a love of detective stories with historic literature.

For the popular ‘Stella Montgomery’ series she plunged into Victoriana and gothic imagery, collecting tales of old boarding schools and Victorian era people. One particularly evocative detail used in this series, is the Hand of Glory candle that starts a fire.

Judith, with a mixture of sheepishness and glee, mentions that children always regard this as an especially haunting scene.

Judith describes her own life with a similar youthful consideration to detail and sensory aspects. When asked what she longed for as a child she says:

‘I remember buying chocolate royals (the biscuit) at our school canteen for 4c each. I adored them. You smashed them on your forehead, then picked off the chocolate, sucked up the marshmallow, and then ate the biscuit. That was the way to do it. In the canteen, they came in a big catering box, which must have had about 100 chocolate royals in it, or maybe more, lined up in rows. I remember dreaming about having this whole big box for myself.’

Judith’s playful and observant perspective on the world naturally lends itself to adventure and mystery stories, particularly as seen through the eyes of a precocious child. As she goes on to describe one of the most beautiful thing she has ever seen, one can’t help but feel a story form:‘Years ago, I went on a trip to Macquarie Island, half way to Antarctica. We visited the beach where they used to boil up the penguins for oil. In the 30s, we had killed so many penguins they were nearly extinct. But now, you can’t land at the beach because it’s so jam-packed with penguins there’s nowhere to stand. And the sea was full of penguins swimming around. I could see the remains of the penguin-boiling factory, rusting away, but now it’s totally engulfed by a massive crowd of beautiful penguins.’

Also like so many of the creators contributing to the Hope Flies project, Judith is invested in environmental conservation and has aided in restoration efforts like the ‘Tree Project’. Another thing that has been lifting Judith’s spirits and planting sparks of hope is the ‘Sheldrick Trust’ whom she follows on instagram.

‘They rescue orphaned elephants in Kenya,’ she said.

‘I find it very hopeful that there are such good, kind, patient people working in the world. The keepers look after the baby elephants for up to ten years, and even when the elephants grow up and return to the wild, they often come back to visit. They come back to introduce the keepers to a new baby, or to bring an injured elephant for help, or just to meet the current orphans.’

Judith’s kite is painted to look as if a soft tabby cat has happened upon it and stopped to take a luxurious nap in the middle of its creation, leaving it unfinished. The tabby has a peaceful smile and a beautiful fluid pattern subtly shaded with red.

‘My dad was a kite-maker, and he was very good at it. He made them out of balsa wood and silk. He used to make box kites, and they would sit up in the air, just like a brick. We could tie the string to a fence and go away, and when we came back the kite would still be sitting up there in the sky.’

https://judithrossell.com/

Visit Judith’s website, to find other Art Challenges and to learn more about her books.